To be Happy, Healthy, and Holy

This triad of “h”-words has no special importance, other than they are easy for me to remember and they have provided me some food for thought. They certainly don’t stack up with “faith, hope and love.”

I’m a little embarrassed about the first word: happy. Good and sour Christians aren’t supposed to think too much about being happy, or so I tend to think. I’ve always been a little bothered about that phrase in the old hymn’s chorus that says: “Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way - to be happy in Jesus - but to trust and obey. Is that really what we are supposed to obey, in order to be happy. It seems a little shallow and self-centered. 

But the math changes when we apply it our offspring. Even Calvinists want their kids and grandkids to be happy. But what do we really want when we want their happiness. The Bible word would be “Blessed.” I hope that’s what we mean. And since the opposite of “blessed” is “cursed,” it seems to be a good thing to want for our kids, and even for ourselves.

We also want health. We know there are strings attached. We know that we can’t eat garbage and also demand that God protect us from heart disease. But we also know that we can eat carefully, exercise diligently, and still be prone to breakdowns of health. What’s more, health is not limited to our bodies, but also our minds and emotions and relationships. So yes, we want to be healthy, and don’t forget about that desire to be happy.

But all is basically lost if one is not holy. Oh, you can be temporarily happy, or healthy, at least superficially so. You can live for today, so long as you don’t allow yourself to think about tomorrow. But it is this “holy” concern that forces us to think about tomorrow, about meeting the One Person who is absolutely holy, and who has placed a demand of holiness upon each of our lives. On that day of accounting, happiness and health will hinge completely on the presence, or absence, of holiness.

And here is the Good News: God gives holiness in His Son, Jesus, who has taken our sin and given us His righteousness. We accept this Great Exchange by faith in Him and in what He has done. What’s more, there is the promise of eternal happiness and health at that time when we see Jesus and are made like Him.